Back home 'the AA way'.

What car? DaveK

BMW I think.

gino

Very good reason for that. I work for an AA contractor, and we get all sorts of fault details from the members, some recent examples........

"Flat Battery" was really a seized starter motor "Fuel Starvation" was a broken wire on the alternator "Broken Timing Belt" was a loose distributor "Blown Head Gasket" was an out of fuel.

As you can see, the members diagnosis sometimes wrong, usually about 50% of the time, and the AA wont commit themselves to a recovery until the fault is confirmed. Frustrating if you know that the fault is not repairable roadside, but unfortunately the AA operators cannot tell if you know what you are talking about from a phone call.

E34 is a BMW engine I beleive of the 2 litre ish, 6 cylinder sort.

Mmmmm. I had to presuade them it was a recovery once with the car working fine but the driver with a broken ankle and 500 miles from home. The operator still insisted on sending out a little bitty van to tow me though so I had words with the duty stupidvisor....

The message from Chris Street contains these words:

I'm glad you sorted that out 'cos the E34 I know is a main road in Europe - runs from - Zeebrugge - Antwerp - Eindhoven - Venlo - Oberhausen - Dortmund - Bad Oeynhausen

When he said "Packed up today on the E34" I assumed that was what he meant.

I can understand that to some extent, but I was driving Volvo estate over a large hill in the rain and Gail force winds once, the bonnet popped up as I was overtaking a lorry at about 70mph.

As you can imaging, first I shat myself, then I followed the lines across to the hard-shoulder with a little guidance from a lorry driver.

Then I phoned the AA who sent a geezer with a little van! - I told them I needed recovery on a flat bed, as the bonnet was totally wrecked and the sunroof had collapsed due to the impact and was not repairable. We had a big argument and the AA man got so 'Bolshy' he made my wife cry.

Andy

I know they say your the member not the car but isn't that taking it a bit far?

No, no problem at all. August Bank holiday, trip from the middle of the Highlands to Warwick. If the driver is unable to finish the journey and no passenger can drive they help but you may not be at the top of the priority list.

They're a clued up lot then?

Bloody good design that. I was a bit annoyed on my Fiesta TDi when the aux drivebelt went on that - not snapped, more "shredded" - the day I bought it (actually happened just before I bought it) the bolt holding in the tensioner snapped and the belt was slipping on and off, so the bloke selling it took it straight to a garage he know where they put a new bolt in straight away and all was fine - it had obviously weakened the belt, and I should have thought to replace it earlier. Anyway, when it went, I was annoyed as normally it would just mean charging the battery up on return home (and avoiding driving in the dark), but this meant that I couldn't drive it without overheating - but in hindsight it made for a *much* safer and more reliable cambelt design, so it's a good thing even on cambelt driven engines I suppose.

Yeah, not a bad lifespan.

Why should it be? I have Mayday (Caravan Club custom version of Green Flag). A few years back I had an accident which crushed my leg between a runaway Mondeo and my caravan. My wife was not prepared to tow the 22 foot caravan home, so we had it recovered, no questions asked. I think all recovery policies state somewhere "if the driver is incapacitated" or WTTE.

"JB" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

It's company policy I think. A friend phoned them and pointed out that as a con rod was sticking out the side of the block and there was a bloody great oil slick on the ground maybe they would be better off sending a "flat bed" truck straight away. Stupid little van turns up... ...next one is a tow truck, but he has an auto rear wheel drive so you can't tow it...he is getting a bit peeved off at now, the tow truck driver can't understand why he can't tow it...it's on a motor way and it's raining so he is soaked to the bone standing behind the crash barrier. Finally a flat bed arrives! He was with the RAC so I think it's just policy to assume the driver is an idiot and can't tell what has caused his break down.

I wish the recovery people just can't listen to the customer instead of wasting time and money like this.

Keep well,

Will

Yes, I have had similar with the RAC for an automatic Mitsubishi Galant. They wanted to tow it from Poole to Blackpool - I insisted on a flatbed.

They outsourced the flatbed to a local company called 'Castle Recovery', on the 6 hour drive to Blackpool the guy told me it was common for auto's to get wrecked through towing, and if I read the small print I would see an exclusion course for liability of auto boxes on the form the AA and RAC get you to sign.

We had a hell of a laugh on the way to Blackpool though, the chap even let me drive the recovery lorry for a while so he could eat his lunch.

Andy

tow it...he is

behind the

just policy

wasting time and

I agree it seems daft, but both the AA and RAC have far more "small vans" than flat beds. The vans are on the road, with sat-nav and radio comms, so generally can get to a breakdown faster. If stuck on the hard shoulder, I would rather have an AA vehicle behind me with all the lights flashing than nothing. In this respect, it is company policy to try to provide protection whilst awaiting recovery. Obviously this is especially important for anyone who may be vulnerable in a breakdown situation.

Chris

Bit of a pain that you're gonna have to go through all this hassle again at 690,696 miles, tho. ;-)

He'll know to put a new water pump in at 650k though.

You may laugh, but I did exactly that on my old E23 735 about 4 months ago for its new owner. This vehicle has now 680k+ miles on it. I bought it originally about 6 years ago with over 525k on it at the time but with a dead cam and several followers for £75!!!. Amazing mileages you can get out these old beasts if well maintained.

JB

tow it...he is

behind the

just policy

Never had this trouble with Green Flag. They have _always_ sent a flat-bed straightaway.

Amazing anybody can afford enough petrol to make it travel that far!